I've been selected to respond to the U.S. Census' "American Community Survey." Apparently, it's the new way of taking the census on a rolling basis, rather than once every 10 years.
It includes a HUGE number of questions about my finances (income and specific source, property value, monthly mortgage payments), my expenses (mortgage, electric, gas, sewage, etc. etc. down the line), my job (how I get to work and what time I leave for work each day), my history of mental or emotional illness (!!!!), how many toilets I have in my house, who lives here with me and THEIR information, etc. etc. The list goes on -- my race, the number of cars kept here, education, languages spoken... 24 pages all told.
Now, I KNOW that a lot of this information is useful for government purposes, and that I should do my share to help, but... with the recent information on government surveillance of citizens, the sheer number and intrusiveness of the questions, the knowledge that census data was (illegally) used to round up Japanese internees during WWII, the knowledge that my DMV and other data is being sold to businesses... it's all getting me just a little bit antsy.
The statement on the envelope that my information is "required by law" is contributing to the feeling that I'm being coerced, despite my congressional office tells me there's no enforcement behind that statement.
Anybody have thoughts, opinions, suggestions? Anyone else get this thing, and how did you handle it?
Caroline
It includes a HUGE number of questions about my finances (income and specific source, property value, monthly mortgage payments), my expenses (mortgage, electric, gas, sewage, etc. etc. down the line), my job (how I get to work and what time I leave for work each day), my history of mental or emotional illness (!!!!), how many toilets I have in my house, who lives here with me and THEIR information, etc. etc. The list goes on -- my race, the number of cars kept here, education, languages spoken... 24 pages all told.
Now, I KNOW that a lot of this information is useful for government purposes, and that I should do my share to help, but... with the recent information on government surveillance of citizens, the sheer number and intrusiveness of the questions, the knowledge that census data was (illegally) used to round up Japanese internees during WWII, the knowledge that my DMV and other data is being sold to businesses... it's all getting me just a little bit antsy.
The statement on the envelope that my information is "required by law" is contributing to the feeling that I'm being coerced, despite my congressional office tells me there's no enforcement behind that statement.
Anybody have thoughts, opinions, suggestions? Anyone else get this thing, and how did you handle it?
Caroline